Burn Your Wings
by xv323
Summary: Tragedy befalls Berk's dragon population, and nobody knows what has caused it. Accusations are flying and the air is charged with grief and anger. In the midst of this, can Hiccup save at least some of the peace he brought about - and in the process, will he lose the one he loves?


**Hey everyone. Long time no see yet AGAIN. I really am terrible at this.**

**Anyhoo - new story! This is the prologue. The title is a quote from a Coheed and Cambria song that seemed apt here. This doesn't mean Hero of the Day is being abandoned - quite the opposite, I'm hoping this'll spur me on to more writing**

**I ought to say as well that this is NOT canon with any of my other stories..**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

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**Burn Your Wings**

**Prologue - A Time When Hearts Were Broken**

The stables had been a cold and lonely place as of late. Where before there had been the hustle and bustle and amicable chaos of the daily lives and comings and goings of a village's worth of dragons, now there was an awful silence, and it seemed to hang in the air with a physical presence, carrying a weight all its own by virtue of what it signified. It was like a constant reminder, though one was scarcely needed, that something was gravely awry.

Dragon stables should never be _quiet_.

A solitary figure, arms crossed tightly and shoulders hunched against the cold, shuffled dejectedly through the deep-set snow towards the building, the windows darker than ever they should be. She paused at the door, her hand resting lightly on the thick iron bolt that held the doors shut against the sort of force that none of the building's occupants could now even hope to muster. They were all too ill.

She sighed and, after a moment, drew the bolt and stepped inside.

Quickly swinging the door back closed out of sheer force of habit, Astrid turned to face the interior. Murky though it was in the half light, and faded though her colours now were, there was no mistaking exactly which dragon it was lying in the straw in the middle of the floor, chest rising and falling weakly and only the faintest of occasional chirrups reaching Astrid's ears.

"Hey girl", said Astrid softly - ruefully - as she stepped further into the cavernous hall of the building.

Stormfly had been sick for a while now - about as long as the rest of the dragons, in fact. Nobody, not Fishlegs, nor Hiccup nor even the elders, knew what had started it or how - all anyone knew was that their dragons were dying. All of them, pretty much. Many had already gone. The twins had lost Zip and Zap about a week ago, and Meatlug had died the previous night. There wasn't much hope, if any, now for the remaining two of her babies.

The mewling cries they'd been making all night were perhaps the most heartbreaking thing of all.

It wasn't lost on anyone that Toothless was the only one of any of them who had seemed able to shake the disease off, though he'd been the first to get it. He and Hiccup had been off on one of their many escapades to one of the many surrounding islands, and had returned quite normally, with the usual dopey, post-idiotic-flying-stunt grins plastered across both their faces. The very next day, Toothless had been essentially paralysed from the moment he'd woken up, and the alarm in the village rose with each new dragon that this happened to as well in the few days afterwards.

When they'd started dying, Stoick had convened an urgent meeting in which, by Hiccup's version of events, they had grilled him over what exactly had happened to the two of them on that last trip overseas. Hiccup had been unwavering - his answer, always, was 'nothing that hasn't happened a hundred times before'.

Everyone was mystified. And pretty soon, they'd had to start mourning.

That was a couple of weeks ago. Astrid was a logical person and she knew there was a damn good chance Stormfly would have the same befall her as had befallen all the others, but she'd never believed it would actually _happen_ until the day she'd woken to find the Nadder slumped over the end of her bed, essentially comatose. Her heart had dropped through the floor when she realised what it meant.

She crossed the floor and knelt, lifting the dragon's head carefully onto her lap and scratching lightly in the spot where Stormfly had always, always liked to be scratched, ever since Hiccup was the first to do it in the training ring, before any of them had known quite how he'd learnt such a trick.

The dragon had responded that first time by slumping to the floor in unadulterated bliss. Now, she tried feebly to nuzzle against Astrid's neck, but succeeded only in bumping into her chest a little bit.

Every time like this was heartbreaking anew for both of them.

Hours passed. Stormfly's breathing became more and more strained. Neither of them moved. Neither made a sound, and still each understood the other perfectly, even now. This wasn't going to last a lot longer, and they both knew it.

The dragon blinked once. Blinked twice. Slowly, and seemingly with a great deal of effort, her upward facing eye turned to meet Astrid's own gaze. It stayed there for a lifetime's worth of a few seconds. Perfect understanding passed between them by that conduit just as it always had. No words necessary. Then, the eyelid flickered shut. The wheezing grew now with every inhalation. Every exhalation ghosted Astrid's flank and tickled her hair slightly, and the girl - still a girl, really - could feel the rush of air lessening in strength inexorably, with every single breath.

Tapering off. Tapering off.

And gone.

It took Astrid a couple of moments to register that the breaths had stopped. A moment after that, she noted too that she could no longer feel the thrum of a heartbeat.

She stopped there. She didn't want to notice anything else. She just cried.

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**Not a happy start m'afraid, but this goes many places. Hopefully. If I'm not lazy again. XD**

**I'd love to hear what you thought - description wise in particular, as always. Thanks for reading if you got this far, please review! **


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